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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – SKF USA Inc. is building a $4 million, 31,200-square-foot facility in Moody with plans to create 25 jobs.
The facility is being built on 3.5 acres in Moody Commerce Park in St. Clair County and marks the first new development project for Graham & Co. since the economic downturn curtailed financing and new development.
“This is our first ground-up development since 2008 so we are excited about it,” said Sonny Culp of Graham & Co., which has 384,000 square feet of fully-leased space already in Moody Commerce Park.
Culp said SKF’s facility will be expandable by 25 percent, should the company have future growth plans.
It will be SKF’s fifth location in North America, joining others in Houston and Cleveland in the U.S.; Edmonton and one under construction in Toronto in Canada; and one in Monterey, Mexico.
Based in Sweden with a U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, SKF is a global company with aims of having 15 North American locations in the coming years.
SKF provides a range of products and services to more than 400 original equipment manufacturers ranging from metals, food and beverage, mining and pulp and paper industries. SKF said it has more than 130 distributor accounts with more than 900 customers within a three-hour drive of the Moody facility.
SKF has dubbed its facilities “solution factories” because of their diverse work with OEMs.
Jon Stevens, responsible for SKF Solution Factories in North America, explained the concept as “a gateway to a world of SKF knowledge, conveniently located close to key customers in order to collaborate and combine SKF’s technical knowledge, industry application know-how, and manufacturing capabilities. It allows us to deliver integrated solutions that address previously ‘unsolvable’ productivity problems.”
The Moody “Solution Factory” will be able to manufacture bearings, handle precision assembly, driveline services, custom-machined seals, root-cause failure analysis, seminars and training.
Designform LLC is architect on the project and Cooper Construction Co. is building it for Graham, which has a long-term lease commitment from SKF.
The facility will seek a “Gold” certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program because of its reduced environmental impact.
The grand opening is planned for the first quarter of 2014.
“We are proud to have a company like SKF, with their extensive technology expertise, locating in our community,” Moody Mayor Joe Lee said in a release. “This location will allow regional access to the company’s global network of solutions and is a good addition to our technology-based business sector.”
In April, the Moody City Council approved more than $200,000 in tax abatements and incentives to help secure SKF, though the company’s identity was not known at the time.
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